Ai Yori Aoshi, Volume 13

Tina has been pondering her impending return to America after she graduates and when she looks through a photo album of Kaoru and the gang she feels an urgency to create some great last memories. Of course it also has to do with her cowardice about not telling her friends about her decision. She wants everybody to get along with everyone, including her archenemy Mayu. She plans a trip for the whole cast to Kyushu, which is famous for its hot springs. As all fans of anime and manga know, the hot springs chapter or episode is pretty much a standard feature, where the guys try to cop a look at the naked bodies of their female costars. Ai Yori is a little different for the fact that Kaoru is the only guy in the book, and he's not a pervert, but somehow through no fault of his own, he always end up with one of the girls luscious bodies in front of him. The situation gets a little uncomfortable when Tina corrals Kaoru into a date with only her, and asks him to treat her like his girlfriend! This thirteenth volume of Ai Yori is a little sadder than most, because Tina's anxieties and fear of change and losing her friends is coming to the forefront, but there are hints that she could make the choice to stay in Japan, even though it would go against the wishes of her parents. We do get to see a more serious side of Tina than we usually do, and even Mayu gets an added dimension as she confronts Tina over her suspicions about her leaving. I get the feeling that when this series ends it's going to be bittersweet because all of the girls have some form of love for Kaoru, and remember, none of them know about Kaoru and Ai's relationship. It's all been kept under wraps. As far as they know, Ai is just another girl in the household vying for his attention. Of course Ai Yori is a complete fantasy of adolescents stuck on the cusp of adulthood which could never happen in the real world. But Ai Yori's enthusiastic fantasy, lively humor, romance, and eroticism make it a fantasy world worth reading.